Understanding His Kingdom – Part 4

God’s grace has made the provision and by faith we have access to this provision. [Romans 5:1-2]“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand”. This should be sufficient to get anyone started in the kingdom of God, knowing that God has provided all that we need for life and godliness [2 Peter 1:3] through His grace and that we can access these things needed for life and godliness by our faith.

In the last part, I mentioned about first exercising our faith for smaller things and then growing in Spirit so that we begin exercising our faith for greater things. A lot of people think we become selfish by doing this. They say that faith has made you seeking things for yourself. Remember the kingdom of God is not about self. Jesus said in [Luke 14:26 – NKJV] “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple”. Here Jesus says that you need to ‘hate’ as in ‘de-prioritize’ your father, mother, wife, children, brother, sisters and also your own life and keep Jesus and His kingdom above all if you want to be His disciple. In other words God wants you to focus on others needs and not on your own needs because He will take care of your needs. We learnt that love is all about giving, sharing and caring for others, so God will equip you to be able to take care of and love others. You will just need to trust Him as you go along. A young Hindu man was once challenged by his father when he informed him of his decision to follow Christ. His father (not a follower of Christ then) said to him, “Read up Luke Chapter 14 verse 26 and tell me if you are willing to do that”. The man replied with all his heart that he was ready to do it. I read this in a book titled “My Encounter With Truth” the story of Pandit Dharm Prakash Sharma. It is an amazing story of how Jesus reveals himself to a bible-burning young man in search of the truth. I would recommend you this book, a glorious testimony of Jesus Christ.

So if you get the picture, God enables you and blesses you so that you are a blessing to others. For you to be a blessing to others you would need to receive from God, because unless a person receives from God he cannot give anything worthwhile to others. Therefore faith is not for selfish reasons, rather it is for others. Look at the gifts of the Holy Spirit [1 Corinthians 12:8-10 – NKJV]“for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues”. Who do you think these gifts are for? Is it for self or others? Of course others but God’s abundant life is available to us too the moment we believed in Jesus as he tells us in [John 10:10 – NIV]“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”. In the kingdom where Satan rules, he steals kills and destroys, but as long as you are walking in God’s established kingdom, he can do no harm to you because Jesus gives us His abundant life that we may have no lack.

I leave you with this verse that the Lord God gave me in order to proclaim His good tidings to you. Stay Blessed!

[Psalm 65:9-13]“You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the wilderness overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.”